Seat construction



Nov. 8, 1938. F, O. CHURCH 2,135,657

SEAT CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 5; 1957 s Shee ts-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.fiq/v/lzm/ O. GfU/PC/i ATTORNEYS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 F. O. CHURCH SEATCONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 5, 1937 Nov. 8, 1938.

' INVENTOR. IR ANKLl/V O. CHz/RC'H. BY M =2 ATTORNEYS NOV. 8, 1938. E QCHURQH 2,135,657

SEAT CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 195? b Sheets-Sheet 3 f/mA/m: //v O.Cwawacw.

flaw? '7 ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 8, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICESEAT CONSTRUCTION Application February 5, 1937, Serial No. 124,170

2 Claims.

My invention relates to a seat construction of the sling type, that is,one in which a flexible sheet orfabric is connected at one end to across piece at the front of the seat portion and is connected at theother end to a crosspiece at the upper part of the back.

In seat constructions of the above type as heretofore made there hasbeen a tendency to sag into a hammock-like loop which becomesuncomfortable to the occupant. Inasmuch as he cannot easily change hisposition, this is a particular disadvantage when this type of seatconstruction is used for vehicles such as busses or aircraft.

The above disadvantage is obviated by my invention which provides a seatconstruction of the above type that is comfortable and in which thesagging of the seat is avoided, which readily adapts itself to varioussizes of occupants and which permits a great freedom of movement.

In my invention I provide a sling type of support for resilient cushionspreferably of molded resilient material, such as cellular rubber orfoamed latex rubber. The support for these cushions comprises aflexible, preferably nonstretchable, sheet or fabric either of textilematerial or metal mesh secured at one end to a cross end to across'piece at the top of the back and resting on an intermediate crosspiece positioned at about the small of the back. The various crosspieces are of an upwardly convex cross section so as to avoid sharp orpronounced ridges. A smooth, flexible support is thus provided whichforms a base for the cushions that permits them to conform readily tothe body-of an occupant.

Resilient cushions of molded material are then mounted on the supportthus formed. Preferably the cushion is made up of three pieces, one forthe seat, one for the back and an upper back element for a head rest.These cushions are in turn covered with the covering material. Bothcushions and covering material may be secured to the slung supportingbase and to the side frame of the seat construction by suitable eyelets,bolts or other fastening means. The back surface of the seat, that is,the cross pieces and side frame may be enclosed or covered by a backingof any suitable material, either metal or fabric.

The various features are illustrated by way of example in which- Fig. 1is a perspective view of a seat embodying a preferred form of theinvention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the slung supporting base forthe seat construction; Fig. 3 is a perspectiveview showing each ofthree. cushions in their relative positions but each individuallyinverted from the position it would occupy on the supporting base inorder to show the internal construction of the cushions; Fig. 4 is aperspective view in similar the accompanying drawings, in

relation of the covers for the respective cushions; Fig. 5 is a verticalsection of the completed seat construction taken on the plane 5-5 ofFig. 1; Fig. 6 is a section taken on the line 6--6 of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 isa detailed perspective view of the upper or head rest cross piece; Fig.8 is a vertical section on a larger scale of the upper part of the backconstruction; Fig. 9 asimilar vertical section of the lower part of theback construction; Fig. 10 is a vertical section of the front of theseat; and Fig. 11 is a detailed sectional view showing a manner offastening the cushions and the covers to the support.

Referring to the drawings, particularly to Figs 2 and 5, a front crosspiece i2, an intermediate cross piece l3 and a top cross piece it aremounted at their ends on a pair of rails i5 and I6 which may be mountedon any suitable supports such as the legs I! and I8. A flexible sheet 19of textile fabric, of mesh metal or other mate-, rial which ispreferably non-stretchable is secured at its front end to the frontcross piece i2 and at its top to the top cross piece It and extends overor rests on the front surface of the intermediate cross piece l3 whichis positioned at such a position as to provide a support at the small ofthe back of a person occupying the seat.

On the support thus formed there are placed a seat cushion 20, a backcushion 2| and a head rest cushion 22 forming in effect a continuouscushion from the front support I2 to the top or head support 14. Thesecushions may be made of any suitable material, but preferably of moldedresilient plastic, such as cellular rubber or foamed latex rubber, suchmolded cushions tending, to retain or resume their shape and thus aidingin preventing an undesirable sag to the flexible slung support.

While for convenience three cushions distributed as shown are preferred,it will be understood that this is merely by way of example and thatother cushion arrangements could be made. Preferably the cushions areeach of a honeycomb type of construction having upwardly extendingrecesses 23 and a continuous top wall 24 in order to give greaterfiexibilityand yielding qualities. Also the lower or base portion of thecushion is preferably made of stiffer material either by being lessporous or of a harder or stiffer composition and the upper part moreyielding material or construction in order that a softness may beobtained combined with sufllcient resistance to any sagging ordeformation. The cushions vill, 2| and 22 are covered by the covers 25,26 and 21, respectively which enclose the top and side walls of theirrespective cushions and are secured to the supporting elements [9.Preferably the attachment of the cushions and their .covers is madedetachable so that they may be readily and individually removed orreplaced.

Any suitable manner of attaching the flexible sheet l9 and the cushions20, 2| and 22 and their covers may be employed. As shown in Figs. 5, 8,9 and 10, the end cross pieces are each constructed of an upwardlyconvex curved portion 28 which then extends horizontally towards theouter edge and is reversely bent in a convex portion 29, this leaving arecess 30 and a slit 3| as shown most clearly in Figs. 8 and 10.

The end portions of the sheet l9 enter the slits 3| and are thenanchored in the recesses 30 by it 1 v ness is secured to the upper andlower faces of the head rest 'cushion 22 by the extensions and 36 andextends downwardly back of the cross piece 30 to which it is secured bystuds 31 as shown in Fig. 8 which pass through eyelets or slits 38 inthe flap. The cushion then hangs downwardly and rests against the crosspiece l4 and the sheet |9.,

, The back cushion 2| is similarly provided with a flap 39 secured as at40 and 4| to the upper and under faces of the cushion as shown in Figs.3 and 8 and extending towards the head rest cush-' ion 22 and providedwith eyelets or openings 42 to receive studs 43 projecting upwardly fromthe sheet IS. The bottom cushion 20 is provided at the rear with a flap44 and at the front with a flap 45 secured to the cushions in the same:manher as the flaps 39 and 44 are secured to their respective cushionsand is secured to the sheet l9 by bolts or studs 46 and 41 respectively,the bolts or studs 46 being secured to the sheet l9 and the bolts 41 tothe cross piece l2. It will be noted that the bottom seat is secured atfront and rear, whereas the head rest and back cushions are secured attheir upper edges only and hang naturally down without the necessity oftheir being secured at their lower edges. However, further securingmeans may be employed if desired. The flaps 34, 39, 44 and 45 may beattached to their respective cushions by any suitable means. However, inthe case of cellular rubber or foamed latex rubber they may beadequately secured by rubber cement. I

The covers 25, 26 and 21 may be detachably secured on their respectivecushions. For this purpose the cover 21 is provided with a top flap 48which folds over the cushion flap 34 as shown in Fig. 8 and with sideflaps 49 and 50 which snap onto the side frame of the support. The frontedge 5| of the cover covers the lower face of the cushion 22 which isprovided with a strip 52 carrying eyelet studs 53 which engage suitableopenings oreyelets 54 on the flap 5| to secure the lower edge of theflap to the lower face of the cushion. The flap 52 may be adequatelysecured to the cushion 22 by cement and has side extensions 55 to moresecurely hold it in position.

Similarly the cover 26 is provided with a. top flap 56 with side flaps51 and 56 and with a front face 59 which are secured respectively to thestuds'43 to the side elements of the frame and to bolts 61 and 68 forthis purpose.

the attachment strip on the lower face of the cushion 2| respectively ina manner similar to the attachment of the cover 21.

The seat cover 25 is provided with'flaps 6|, 62 at its rear and frontedges which have openings 63 and 64 respectively which fit over and aresecured to the studs 46 and 41 respectively. Side flaps 65 and 66 areprovided for securing the cover to the side elements of the frame asshown in. Fig. 6, the frame being provided with suitable It will beunderstood'that any suitable attaching means may be employed forsecuring the covers to these side elements and to the other elements ofthe combination, the bolts and eyelets being shown merely by way ofexample. The back of the seat or chair may be enclosed by sheet material69. Any suitable sheet material such as metal, cloth or any fabric maybe employed for this purpose. It will also be understood that the leg orunder structure of the seat or chair may be of any suitable style ordesign dependent upon whether the seat is to be used in a vehicle suchas a bus, train or airplane or as an article of furniture for a house,bungalow, etc. The formation and mounting of the cushions tend to holdthe assembled structure in approximately the shape shown in Fig. 5 andthus avoids the hammock-like sag of the former sling seats. Whenoccupied the cushion will be deformed to approximately the contourindicated by the broken line 10. This causes a change in the position ofthe sheet l9 from that shown in full lines to that shown in broken lines1|, the sheet conforming locally to the pressure transmitted through thecushions and thus increasing the resiliency and flexibility of thelatter. In this way the seat construction readily adapts itself todifferent sizes of occupants and to different positions of the latter.

What I claim is:

1. A seat construction which comprises a cross piece at the front of theseat, a head rest cross piece at the top of the back seat, and anintermediate cross piece placed below the top piece at a positioncorresponding to the small of the back of an occupant, a flexiblesupporting sheet at tached to the front and head rest cross pieces andresting on the intermediate cross piece, said head rest cross piececomprising a plate of rigid material bent to form a recess at theuppermost end, and a front cross piece comprising a plate of rigidmaterial bent to form a recess at its forward edge and a surfaceextending rearwardly of said recess, said sheet being anchored in saidrecesses and extending over said surfaces, and a cushion of resilientmolded composition mounted on said sheet and overlying said crosspieces.

2. A seat construction which comprises a cross piece at the front of theseat, a head rest cross piece at the top of the back of the seat, saidcross pieces each comprising a plate of rigid material, said front crosspiece being reversely bent up- 4 wardly to form a recess and a surfaceextending backwardly therefrom, said head rest cross piece beingreversely bent forwardly to forma recess and a surface dependingdownwardly therefrom, a flexible supporting sheet anchored at oppositeends in said recesses, means to support said sheet in the back portionbelow said head rest cross piece, and cushions secured on said sheet.

FRANKLIN o. CHURCH.

